Welcome

Welcome to my art blog from Tasmania, Australia. I post a little on my various art projects while also working in plant genetics. For more, please try the links to my various art pages or email me at silvergumstudio@yahoo.com.au. Thank you for visiting!

Friday, May 26, 2017

Bay of Fires Winter Arts Festival

It sounds like a hoot. Apart from the annual Bay of Fires Art Prize (a cool $20,000 in prize money), there will be an arts market, workshops (including Rubbish to Art, Plein Air Landscape and Make A Zombie Keychain), open studios and gardens, live music and a BBQ competition.

Actually, there are so many good things on that I can't decide which to do. Plein Air Landscape is off the agenda. This is Tasmania in winter, people! Rubbish to Art is tempting. The open gardens have potted plants and worm juice for sale. The Beer Blues BBQ is a must-do. Barbecuing has become a form of performance art in Tasmania, with slow-cookin', smokin' mobile BBQ artists travelling to championships around the state. The BBQ prize money is $5,500, which is more than you get for illustrating a book. The only aggravating thing about BBQ competitions is that you can smell the meat, but you can't eat it. The judges eat it. However, apparently there will be catering for the masses at this particular event.

Then there's the flaming torch closing ceremony on the beach at St Helens, culminating in the lighting of a communal fire pot. Who could resist that?

I didn't do this picture of Bean and Carrot-Top specially for the Bay of Fires Art Prize, but you can see the bay in the background.